Luck Has Nothing to Do With It
In the midst of the COVID summer past, I tried and failed to get the Good Lady to watch The Sopranos, the seminal and rightly acclaimed HBO series centered on the Mafia Boss, Tony Soprano, as he tries to juggle the demands of being the Boss, and a disfunctional family. Within the particular episode that I failed to get the Good Lady to endure, there is a formal poker game which takes place among the gentlemen. The card game is invitation only, and only the best get an invite. There is careful control implemented of who enters and leaves the premises, the game is set within formal surroundings, there is an expectation on standard of behaviour, and there is very much an expectation of a certain standard of performance in the game. Make no mistake; this is the big boy's table. The cigar smoking, brandy drinking, assemblage are at the top of their game, and they are ready to play .
The Short Course last Saturday was the Big Boy's (and Girl's) Table. Only the best men and women got an invite, and in these current exceptional circumstances, that is correct in the opinion of this correspondent. With the lights dimmed, the starter readied, and the competitors circled around the table, they sat ready for the cards to be dealt, and readied themselves to react accordingly.
The dealer for the game - Mark Munro - stood ensconced at the top of a hillside looking down, ready to supervise the action. With the deck in one hand, a Twitter feed in the other, and the weight of British Athletics weighing heavily on his shoulders, our soon-departing CEO of Scottish Athletics could finally breathe a sigh of relief as he saw a return of our beloved cross country.
The Women's Race
When I switched on the coverage for the women's race, and as the camera panned across the front elevation of 19th century Scone Palace, I thought I had mistakenly tuned into some nauseating BBC adaptation of a George Eliot novel...but then the cross country runners came into view, and all was well again.
Under a beautiful low winter sun, and buoyed by what was probably one of the most masterful displays of female front running this writer has seen in the last couple of years last week at Lochgelly, it was unsurprising that Annabell Simpson of Fife AC went hard from the gun, followed almost toe-to-toe by Morag Millar, with those two then being tracked closely by Megan Keith and Naomi Lang. As the race progressed, and keen to join her fellow two Haries - Sarah Calvert - joined in the fun at the front.
The footage provided doesn't permit a close assessment of the
proceedings, but at some point, Keith must have gone 'all-in', and
thrust away showing the field a clean pair of heels. Regardless of the actions of Keith, this close-knit game was drawn to a premature close. A bit like anticipating a wearied 4am close of your poker game, but the lights then being violently switched on at 3am by your parents, proceedings finished early. With the
course measuring at around 2.7K across the majority of GPS devices, the course was short, and presumably many were scrambling to reach the finish line.
Irrespective of the premature finish, Keith took a sizable 7 second win. With such a magnificent display it is very difficult to see past her in the U20 race at the National. 2nd was Holly Page with a strong run, having not featured at Lochgelly. Naomi Lang, having finished 2nd at Lochgelly showed superb consistency by placing 4th.
Similar to Lochgelly,
and from a team perspective, it was the Haries that showed dominance across the race, placing 2nd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 12th and
14th. Ignoring the fact that they are a university, Scottish Athletic
clubs would be well advised to take instructions from the Haries as to how best to recruit, retain, and encourage women to toe the start line of cross country races.
The Men's Race
As the cards were thrown down, it was beginning to feel like a repeat of Lochgelly with the slender Jamie Crowe and the muscular Jonny Glen meeting each other's early calls. That would have been the case had it not been for the early pressing of Lachlan Oates, who seemed keen to keep the early rounds honest. As these early rounds unfolded, Aidan Thompson and Sean Chalmers sensibly sat back, checking the calls as the early rounds went by.
As the game gradually progressed, Crowe wasn't just taking a call on the cards, but raising at each opportunity. As soon as each corner of the course presented itself, Crowe raised the bets, and through a quick injection of pace, began asking questions of the other players. Corner-by-corner, round-by-round, Crowe raised the stakes thrusting pace and chips into the game, and with the competitors beginning to fold, Crowe was left at the front with a stack of chips.
King Crowe (Photo by Bobby Gavin)
Despite a valiant all-or-nothing play from Chalmers, Crowe took the win and always looked comfortable. To be honest, him losing that race was about as unlikely as meeting Eliud Kipchoge in the queue for the toilets at a warehouse rave in Paisley.
Mention should go to Aidan Thompson; his first race back since The Monument Mile Classic in September, with a 3rd place in that standard of race, is impressive. Also, a tip-of-the-hat to Alex Carcas who looked to have paced his race perfectly sitting near the back in the early stages, before coming through impressively for 5th place, finishing but 2 seconds behind his brother. Sean Chalmers, having finished 4th at Fife, and now 2nd at Scone, needs to find himself a fast flat road 10K after COVID is over, as he is surely in sub-30mins 10K shape now.
The Last Lap caught up with Crowe after the race, and in a moment of honesty confided "I just need a consistent run of races to take advantage of the pubs being closed.". Crowe also confirmed his enthusiasm to defend his title at the forthcoming National in early March, which is encouraging for all who are keen to see that the best athletes that Scotland can produce, compete at the National.
The Fourth Estate
A record of thanks must go to Scottish Athletics to answering the call for some media coverage. For those senior athletes who waited huddled around their laptop with their nearest and dearest awaiting that e-mail invitation 'ping' from Mark Pollard (only to be met with awkward deafening silence), or those stuck inside staring at the four walls of their Tier 4 nightmare, the YouTube coverage provided therapeutic relief for many. For this correspondent, he had a bit more to rely on than just a carrier pigeon and a hotline to the 9th Earl of Mansfield in his drawing room at Scone Palace to establish what was going on his grounds.
Having the ability to actually watch some cross country for the first time since February was like an ambient emotion tugger, bringing a stream of tears to a glass eye. In a spirit of pat-on-the-back bonhomie, well done to Scottish Athletics, albeit, can we have full-length coverage next time?
On the media point, and with the BBC having hardly any of its own sport to show these days (other than Escape to the Country and Crufts), perhaps Auntie could be pressed to give some coverage of the best athletes in Scotland?
The Last Lap
I have always adopted a mantra of why use one word, when ten will do, and it is of seldom occasion that I am lost for words. The performance of Morag Millar last Saturday is one such occasion. Against the 25 best elite female runners in Scotland, Morag ran hard, and upgraded herself from 4th place in Lochgelly to a 3rd place on Saturday, some 6 months from giving birth....6 months from giving birth. Just let that sink in for a moment. Words alone won't do justice to it.
Michael Wright, 9 December 2020
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